day for women. (According to the AHA, one drink is 12 ounces of beer, 4 ounces of wine, 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits or 1 ounce of 100-proof spirits.)
Studies have found that moderate alcohol consumption may have some health benefits, including raising “good” HDL cholesterol levels and lowering the risk of diabetes. However, excessive drinking can lead to a host of health problems, including liver damage, obesity and some types of cancer and stroke, not to mention its negative effect on the heart.
“Alcohol in excess is really bad for the heart,” Kloner said. “It can cause high blood pressure and promote arrhythmias. It can cause cardiomyopathy where the alcohol is actually toxic to the heart muscle cells, and that can lead to heart failure.”
Proving moderate alcohol use causes better heart health would be tricky, Kloner said. Ideally, it would require a large prospective study that not only randomly assigns people to a no-drinking group versus a moderate-drinking group, but that also compares different types of alcohol — red wine, white wine, beer, spirits — to determine if one really is better.
“And then you’d have to control for various factors — age, gender, cardiovascular risk, their diet. You’d have to follow them for